36 GUISING AND MUMMING IN DERBYSHIRE. 



for the several versions of the accompanying ballad represent 

 them as begging for various parts of the body. In describing 

 the " Tup o' Derby," in 1895, Mr. Arthur Mayall says that 

 " the ram's horns were often gilded."'^ This is an important 

 fact, because amongst the Greeks and Romans the horns of a 

 victim, if an ox, might be gilded. ^ 



We must not forget that " in England, in the seventh, and 

 as late as the thirteenth century, the year was reckoned from 

 Christmas Day. ' 



That the ceremony of " the old tup " was intended to confer 

 a benefit on the people may be inferred from the practice 

 of .sweeping the house, which, as we have seen, forms part of 

 the guising at Handsworth Woodhouse. It is well known to 

 anthropologists that this sweeping was intended to expel evil 

 from the house. At Eyam, in Derbyshire, women sweep their 

 door steps on the first of March, and they say that unless you 

 do this you will have fleas all the year. In the East Riding 

 of Yorkshire women sweep the dust up "for luck." At Lane- 

 shaw Bridge, near Colne, in Lancashire, they sweep the old 

 year out and the new year in. Men, women, and children 

 go round on New Year's Eve, from house to house, and they 

 do this from ten o'clock p.m. to midnight. They consider 

 that they have a right to enter any house if they find the door 

 unfastened. They are disguised, and they wear a motley 

 dress, and either their faces are blackened or they wear masks. 

 They never speak or sing, but go straight to the room where 

 the family are, and begin to dust the room and sweep the 

 hearth. They sweep the dust into the fire-place. For this 

 purpose they bring brushes and dusters with them. They do 

 all this in silence, and when they have finished, they rattle a 

 money-box before each person, and collect what money they 

 can get. If they find a door closed against them they make 

 " a mumming sound " to induce the people inside to open it.* 



1 Notes and Queries, 9th S., ii., 511. 



2 Smith's Diet, of Greek and Roman Antiq., 1891, vol. ii., 584, 586. 

 ■' Sir Harris Nicholas's Chronology of History, p. 41. 



'' Reported to me by Amy Wroe, aged 24, who till lately resided at 

 Laneshaw Bridge, and has often seen the ceremony performed. 



